Australia was once self-sufficient in rice. We now grow less than 25 percent of domestic rice consumption. The SunRice Group has been importing rice from Vietnam and repackaging it to make-up the shortfall. Since the Corona Virus pandemic, the … [Read more...] about Running out of Rice, While Wasting Water
Murray River
Bring Back the Tide: Wash-Away Adelaide Politics
RECENT billion-dollar plans for the Murray Darling Basin have never been about the environment. Rather they have been about special interest groups doing deals through constant negotiation, with commercial interests in South Australia generally … [Read more...] about Bring Back the Tide: Wash-Away Adelaide Politics
May Your Christmas be Replete with Food
LAST week I got to fly over the Murray River’s mouth and Coorong with two, hard-working, cross-bench Senators, Bob Day and David Leyonhjelm. That was immediately after the Senate Select Committee hearing in Goolwa*. You may yawn: issues discussed … [Read more...] about May Your Christmas be Replete with Food
Will the Senate Select Committee Care About the Fish, or the Estuary?
I will be in Goolwa, just to the north west of the Murray River’s sea mouth, on Tuesday 8th December to give evidence to the Senate Select Committee on the Murray Darling Basin Plan. This committee is chaired by David Leyonhjelm, the … [Read more...] about Will the Senate Select Committee Care About the Fish, or the Estuary?
After the Inlet to Rostocker Harbour Closed Over
There is nothing sustainable about the current management of the Lower Murray and its crippled estuary. Lakes Albert and Alexandrina are vast shallow near-coastal lagoons that started to dry-up during the recent Millennium drought (2003-2009). … [Read more...] about After the Inlet to Rostocker Harbour Closed Over
What about Draining Lake Albert at the bottom of the Murray River?
Bendigo-based long-range weather forecaster Kevin Long has repeatedly reminded me that, at the end of the day it is rainfall cycles that are most important in Australia, not temperature cycles. Can we expect a run of drier years in the Murray … [Read more...] about What about Draining Lake Albert at the bottom of the Murray River?